So I’ve railed against the misinformation put fourth by commercial brewers on many occasions, despite the fact they do make an amazing and difficult product. As a big baseball fan, I’ve also spent a number of posts on the slow emergence of craft beer in professional ballparks.
Now, from a totally expected source, comes an EXACT example of the problem. The New York Yankees, probably the very definition of “corporate baseball” – they’ve long been derided as the “Evil Empire” by their rival Red Sox for their willingness (and ability) to outspend their rivals…and have been the team “everyone wants to beat” since the days of Ruth & Gehrig because of their success (27 championships), have gone and played the faux craft game (and be sure to check out the annotations on the photo in the link):
LINK.
To summarize, in an effort to appease the demand of craft beer fans, they’ve opened a “craft beer stand” at their new $ bazillion stadium…and all the beers inside are from SABMillerCoors (!) and two of them aren’t even beers, with a shandy and a cider in the mix. Hrmph!
** This is exactly the type of crap that pisses off craft beer fans: by hiding their true identity, the corporate giants of the beer world are attempting to pass themselves off as little craft guys to capture the dollars consumers intend to spend – and it IS more costly per serving – on actual craft beer! **
If it was truly “about the beer,” then call it the “Miller/Coors Fancy Beer Bar”…don’t call it the “Craft Beer Destination” and then serve all corporate beverages without admitting it’s true source or ownership.
Hopefully, the great fans of New York will react to this con job the same way they reacted on Opening Day this past Monday, April 1st, as this snap shot of the 9th inning illustrates:
UPDATE: Apparently, the Yankees have heard the criticism, as they’ve changed the name of the stand. LINK
It still ain’t perfect, with the lack of actual craft beer, but at least it’s a bit more factual. In fact, even major media outlets have picked up on the story HERE.
UPDATE (10/3/13): Now another ballpark, this one in Chicago, attempts to pull the same crap. LINK